Parallels Desktop 4.0 for Windows and Linux review

Virtualisation software is going mainstream – but which app is best?

It does the job, but PD4 is pricey and many of its features only work with Windows guests

Our Verdict

Parallels will need to up its game if it wants to take on the likes of VMWare in the battle of virtualization software

For

Supports hardware virtualisation

Runs 64-bit guests

Migrates physical machines into VMs

Imports and clones VMs

Integrates guest apps on host

Against

Many of its features only work with Windows

VMs do not work with FireWire

Doesn't live up to the price tag

The biggest problem with Parallels Desktop 4 is its cost. VirtualBox is available for free and supports all the virtualisation features you'd need on the desktop.

The fact that PD4 doesn't do 3D and limits itself to processors that support hardware virtualisation doesn't help either.

And while users will appreciate the desktop centric (albeit Windows-guest only) features like the guest application coherence and virtual disk compressor, they would surely rather have their VMs work with FireWire devices than support eight virtual CPUs, 16 virtual NICs and 2TB virtual hard disk drives.

The UI doesn't offer anything of note, and there's no speed advantage either, though Windows guests do seem to run faster than Linux ones.

Overall, PD4 fails to live up to its price tag. Most of its touted features work only on Windows guests, and you can get the bulk of them with cheaper alternatives.

Parallels will have to work harder on this if it wants to recreate the popularity of its Mac app.